The Foxes that Ruin Your Vineyard

2nd Chronicles 8:11 spoke to me this week: "Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, 'My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy'."  Indirectly, Solomon seems to acknowledge that his wife was defiled/ unholy, thus she was not fit to dwell in a holy place.

Solomon had many wives and concubines, and it is not by coincidence that the author of Chronicles chooses to highlight one of Solomon's wives, Pharaoh's daughter.  In 1st Kings 3:1, we are told that Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, King of Egypt and married his daughter.  He brought her to the City of David until he finished his palace.  This marriage was out of convenience because Solomon wanted to gain military advantage over his enemies.


Marriage between royal families was a common practice in the ancient Near East because it secured peace.  Although Solomon's marital alliances built friendships with surrounding nations, they were also the beginning of his downfall (NIV commentary).  Remember that God had expressly forbidden the Israelites from marrying foreign women (Deutronomy 7:3-4), but Solomon did it anyway because it served hisown purpose.  These foreign women that Solomon married, brought to Jerusalem their foreign gods, gave the devil a foothold for practise of idol worship in Israel, and eventually lured Solomon's heart away from God.

For Solomon, it was a slow fade from a man whose heart was set on God to a man whose heart became corrupted by pagan worship.  This was a man who feared God and had obeyed Him, by building the temple and his spiritual vitality was evident as he dedicated the temple in 2nd Chronicles 8.  However, 1st Kings 11:1-3 states that, "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter- Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love."

Solomon had encountered God in the past (1st Kings 11:9), and yet he was not able to resist the temptation of pagan worship.  This comes not as a surprise because God had assured the Israelites that the end result of marrying foreign women would be idol worship.  Perhaps Solomon threw caution to the wind and overestimated his ability to resist the devil and remain focused on God.  The consequences of Solomon's sins are heart breaking: He traded His destiny for worldly pleasures and hindered fulfillment of promises God had made in covenant with him.  1 Kings 9:4-5 clearly describes that covenant, where God was committing to establish his throne over Israel for ever, if Solomon would walk before Him in integrity of heart and uprightness.  It is sad to note that despite such great promises, the covenant was broken by Solomon's sins and the kingdom of Israel was torn from Solomon's heir, Rehoboam (10 tribes given over to Jeroboam, son of Nebat -1 Kings 11:34-40).

We can draw some lessons from Solomon's life:

• Obey God always, whether it is favourable or unfavourable to do so.  We don't obey God out of convenience; we obey Him because we are persuaded that He knows what is best for us.
• For those who turn away from the Faith, it is usually a slow gradual corruption of heart, that eventually leads to sin.  Don't give the devil a foothold; submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
• No one is above falling into sin.  We must daily work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  Any reliance on our abilities or past experiences with God to overcome sin is fatal.  We must continually remain plugged into a growing, intimate relationship with God, by whose grace we are able to say no to all ungodliness and worldly passions.
• True prosperity and success is in obeying God.

Solomon's relationship with God was deeply severed by sin. What a tragedy!  The Lover of Solomon's life (God) now became estranged to him.  No wonder we see great hopelessness exhibited in Solomon's latter days as we read the book of Ecclesiastes.  In Songs of Solomon 2:14b-15 states, "show me your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.  Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in the bloom."  It is the little foxes that ruin relationships; even our relationship with God.

Pharaoh's daughter and foreign women were the foxes that ruined Solomon's vineyard; a vineyard that was in the bloom.  What are the foxes in your vineyard?  They could be little, hidden sins but they require to be identified, confronted and repented before they ruin your vineyard!